More Strange Births
"You were fated, fated to have a life full of pain, when Zeus begot you on your mother, shining through the air on the wings of a snow-white swan." Many strange births occur in Greek mythology. Read more
Gallery
Gallery: The Birth of Aphrodite
The subject of the birth of Aphrodite or Venus has always been a favorite in artwork. Since the goddess represents desire and physical attraction, and given the way the female form has often been objectified and sexualized, it is perhaps not surprising she has often depicted nude, but there are also modern examples of how her birth might be represented visually in a way that does not objectify women. Read more
Gallery | Health and healing
"A physician is worth more than several other men put together, for he can cut out arrows and spread healing herbs...Makhaon passed into the middle of the ring and at once drew the arrow from the belt, bending its barbs back through the force with which he pulled it out." This Gallery will take you to the well celebrated world of medicine. In Homeric poetry doctors are precious, valued and… Read more
Private Gallery at the Louvre
I am starting to look back at some photos that I took during the six weeks I spent in Europe, just before the confinement. During several days, the Louvre was closed, because of the pandemic, but not the Louvre Collection in the Inventory of the Department of Prints and Drawings. This amazing place is open to the general public. You just have to send an email in advance to show… Read more
Gallery | The Romans in North Britain: the Antonine Wall
Ask most people what the northernmost frontier of Roman Britain was, and they would probably say it was Hadrian’s Wall. But there was, for a short time, a boundary further north: the Antonine Wall, now a World Heritage Site. This ran between the Firth of Clyde in the west and the Firth of Forth in the east. This Gallery features images from one of the bath-houses on its route, and… Read more